Borrowed Size, Agglomeration Shadows and Cultural Amenities in North-West Europe

165

103

Contemporary urban systems in OECD countries are structured around functional regions, which often overcome established city-boundaries. Reading space in terms of functional regions allows assessing changes in urban hierarchies and spatial structures, including the polycentricity of urban systems at national, regional and metropolitan scales. By using a harmonized definition of functional urban areas in OECD countries, this paper first provides a sound definition of polycentricity at each spatial scale, highlighting for each of them the different links with policy. Second, it provides measures of polycentricity and explores the economic implications of different spatial structures. Results show that relatively more monocentric regions have higher GDP per capita than their more polycentric counterparts. At the country level, on the other hand, polycentricity is associated with higher GDP per capita.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Assessing Polycentric Urban Systems in the OECD: Country, Regional and Metropolitan Perspectives

Brezzi

Veneri

2014

165

103

“…Presently, with the development of the tertiary sector and the globalization of markets, a fairly widespread opinion is that the city can once again be considered a key economic subject; its competitiveness relies on factors associated with the scale and the productive mix (hence, the supply of a wide range of public utilities and advanced services to firms), as well as on an adequate stock of transport and communication infrastructures and a more general urban quality, where the latter involves high architectural standards in public and private spaces and valuable educational, cultural and recreational services-which attract qualified human resources (cf. Florida, 2003;Burger et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

First- and Second-Tier Cities in Regional Agglomeration Models

Agnoletti

Bocci

Iommi

et al. 2014

This work has the purpose of inquiring into the presence of an urban hierarchy within second-tier city areas and alternative agglomeration models differing in their self-propelling ability and territorial sustainability. To this aim we confront regional polycentric areas, by going inside the traditional agglomeration and variety economies and the land settlement model of small-medium urban poles. In particular, the present work compares four Italian regions characterized by a territorial development driven by second-tier cities. The first two sections of the paper evaluate the functional pattern of the different urban systems and subsequently measure their rank in terms of extra-regional attractiveness on demand, which is expressed by rare services (Sections 2 and 3). Sections 4 and 5 tackle the issue of sustainability of settlements by taking into account land consumption and the degree of territorial fragmentation caused by different urbanization models. We discovered good urban performances and settlement sustainability of the second-tier cities agglomeration model in Italian regions, which is stronger when based on the co-presence of specialized small cities (which can assure a minimum amount of local demand for advanced services) and a multifunctional medium urban centre (which can ensure rarer functions). These findings bring strong recommendations on urban policies.

“…Competition for resources, businesses, tourists, inhabitants and governmental subsidies among cities has the potential to induce specialization and create complementarity between the cities (CuadradoRoura & Rubalcaba-Bermejo, 1998). It might, however, also lower the entire region's competitiveness if cities compete excessively and put the regional economic resilience and liveability at risk and fail to 'borrow size' (Burger, Meijers, Hoogerbrugge, & Masip-Tressera, 2015). Cooperative behaviour between the cities of a polycentric urban region as a form of regional governance can also increase the region's functional character, and thus allow it to act in a more concerted way to address intra-regional, national or international issues (Tosics, 2005).…”

Section: City Branding In Polycentric Urban Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

City branding in polycentric urban regions: identification, profiling and transformation in the Randstad and Rhine-Ruhr

Goess

Jong

Meijers

2016

In polycentric urban regions several distinct cities, none of which is dominant, cooperate and compete with each other to attract inhabitants and firms. In such settings city branding strategies do not solely affect one city, but the entire region. We examined how city branding in the face of ecological modernization, that is, delivering higher added economic value, while lowering environmental impacts, is playing out in the Dutch Randstad and the German Rhine-Ruhr. Our findings show that regional identity formation occurs at the sub-polycentric urban region level, coinciding more with (historical) economic profiles than with planning imaginaries. The Dutch cities profile themselves more along the lines of ecological modernization than their German counterparts. Differences between subregions within each polycentric urban region are also noticeable, where more industrialized regions, such as the Ruhr or southern Randstad focus on 'green', 'liveable' and 'knowledge-oriented', while cities with stronger knowledge-intensive sectors portray themselves as 'smart' or 'sustainable'. Cities generally substantiate their profiles through projects, but a significant gap persists between reality and aspirations for improved environmental conditions. This is especially true for the Dutch cities, where many claims, but little visible action can be observed. ARTICLE HISTORY